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Tomorrow, September 5, Microsoft and Nokia will unveil the new Windows Phone 8 flagship: The Lumia 920 (above left). Unlike the Lumia 900, which was held back by WP7’s antiquated hardware requirements, the 920 is a bona fide superphone: There’s 1.5GHz dual-core processor (Snapdragon S4), 1GB of RAM, 32GB of storage, a 4.5-inch 1280×720 display (326 PPI!), and wireless charging.

Updated: Nokia and Microsoft have now officially unveiled the Lumia 920. The specs are exactly as expected — but we now have a lot more details about the camera and display, which Nokia claims are the best in the world.

Rounding out the specs, the 920 will have a PureView camera on the back — but sadly it’ll be an 8-megapixel unit, rather than the PureView 808’s monstrous 41-megapixel sensor. According to The Verge, Nokia feels justified in using the PureView moniker because the 920 will include “advancements in image stabilization and camera software.” Despite real-world testing to the contrary, Nokia continues to claim that it is the camera master. A smartphone camera that could compete with the iPhone 4S would go a long way towards legitimizing the WP8 platform.

The Lumia 920’s wireless charging will be provided via a built-in magnetic induction loop. It is rumored that the 920 will implement Qi wireless charging, a standard developed by the Wireless Power Consortium. With Qi tech, you will be able to charge the Lumia 920 by simply placing it on a wireless charging mat. In theory, you should be able to use a generic Qi charging mat ($10-15), or you can buy a very colorful wireless charging mat from Nokia which will probably cost more.

At the same event, Nokia will also unveil the Lumia 820, the mid-range successor to the Lumia 800. Beyond its code name (“Arrow,” which might be a cute play on WP8’s “Apollo” code name), and the fact that it has a 4.3-inch display, we don’t know much about the 820. It probably has a mediocre display (800×480), 512MB of RAM, and a smaller camera (5MP?)

Like the Lumia 900, the 920 again has a polycarbonate unibody — but instead of sky blue, magenta, or black, the 920 comes in day-glow yellow, blood red, or silvery gray. Judging by another leaked image, the 820 will also be available in those three colors — but also blue, purple, white, and black. Both phones will be initially available on AT&T at the end of October.

Windows Phone 8

We were all a little shocked when Samsung flashed around the world’s first WP8 device at IFA last week, the Ativ S smartphone. We had assumed that Nokia, with its “special partnership” would be the first to show off Microsoft’s new mobile OS.

Despite Samsung’s early outing, the Lumia 920 could still be the first WP8 device on the market — the 920’s rumored end-of-October launch tallies with WP8’s rumored launch date of October 29 (three days after Windows 8). Nokia, Samsung, HTC, and Huawei are all listed as Windows Phone 8 launch partners, though, so there should still be more phones to come.

Regarding the OS itself, there hasn’t been much new information since details of Windows Phone 8 first leaked in February. In June we learnt that Windows Phone 7 and 7.5 devices wouldn’t be allowed to upgrade to WP8, and that the new home screen looks even more like its desktop counterpart than we expected. In recent weeks, we’ve seen some leaked apps — including a new Windows Phone companion app for Windows 8, which replaces the now-retired Zune HD apps — but that’s about it.

For all intents and purposes, it looks like Windows Phone 8 will finally provide a viable third option in the smartphone arena — especially with Android and iOS duking it out in the courts. WP8 shares a lot of compatibility with Windows 8, and the interplay between the two platforms will probably be the key to Microsoft’s marketing push. If WP8 can successfully ride Windows 8 coattails in October, this could finally be Microsoft’s chance to secure a significant share of the mobile market.

I’m also really thankful for the registry fix I heard about in the RTM version that allows people to get their start menus back, that’s gonna save me a lot of headaches at customers…

OT: Seems like a sweet phone, and to have a full windows backend (albeit ARM) is also really nice, makes it an attractive platform for windows desktop developers like me, so who knows it may finally take off :)

WP7Mango

Talking of back-end, have you checked out the new Windows Azure mobile services? Microsoft have made it really easy to develop mobile applications with Azure back-end support. I’m currently looking into using this for my own apps.

WindowsPhone7 with MetroUI was just plain bad and got a 2-3% market share.
WindowsPhone8 with MetroUI renamed into ModernUI is not going to be any better at all. Why should anyone waste time with such a mess of an interface?

This guy is obviously and Apple lover. They are the only ones that get all defensive every time there is a new phone on the market.

Ambo

Why must ppl hate on Windows phone?? I for one cant stand all the apps being all spread out on my screen, I had an android once and will never go back. BUT thats my personal opinion. Everybody has different taste. And whats with the loading Ive never experienced my WP7 to load unlike the HTC Sensation I had, the loading upon coming out of an app is horrible.

Joel Detrow

You’re reviewing the latest and greatest based on your experience with the last gen? That’s like bashing Windows 7 because vista was bad. They’re different animals.

Wait, animals are Apple, my bad.

jqpabc123

That’s like bashing Windows 7 because vista was bad.

Win7 was Vista with updated drivers and user interface tweeks. Basically the same animal.

VirtualMark

Oh no, only 8 million pixels for the tiny crappy camera phone lens to shoot through. The writers here really need to read about the megapixel myth – most of the image quality in a camera comes from the lens.

A 5 megapixel dslr with a good lens can take far higher quality images than a 40 megapixel cameraphone with a cheap lens. The only real use for high megapixel sensors is extremely large images. Seeing as how most people view images on a computer screen or print them off on no larger than A4 paper, anything over 5 megapixels isn’t going to give a lot of benefit. Instead it will just fill up the memory on your camera or phone faster.

Well, you can shoot at lower resolutions with an 8-megapixel sensor, if you’re worried about image size.

FWIW, a few of the writers at ET (myself included) are pro photographers. We’re well aware that pixel count isn’t the be all and end all :)

VirtualMark

Ah cool, i was only pointing it out as you’d said about it being only 8 megapixels. I’ve never tested it but i’d be interested to see if there was any difference between 8 and 40 megapixel images once they’d been scaled down to fit on a normal computer screen.
One other thing – i usually like to shoot images in the sensors native resolution, i don’t know if its true but i wondered if sensors would suffer from aliasing at other resolutions, similar to how lcd monitors look bad at anything other than their native resolutions?

The 41-megapixel PureView sensor is pretty awesome — check out the linked post, if you haven’t seen the pics already.

If you want to engage in intelligent conversation, I suggest you don’t lead with trollish shit like your first comment.

VirtualMark

I did check it out, looks pretty impressive.

My comment wasn’t intended to cause offense – a lot of people think that having more megapixels is the most important thing. And i do think that most camera phone lenses are crappy, i wasn’t trying to troll. I’ve been reading this site for over 10 years and like being able to speak my mind and comment when i don’t fully agree with an article. Sorry if i came across badly, that wasn’t the intention, i was just being sarcastic.

Wow, you’re a proper old schooler! (I’m constantly surprised by just how many oldies we have here, actually :)

Speaking your mind is fine — but there’s a fine line between that, and being intentionally inflammatory (which is basically just a nice phrase for ‘trolling’ :P)

Virtualzeiss

Your “crappy tiny crappy phone lens” was custom made by Zeiss. Google them some time.

VirtualMark

Yeah they’re on the higher end of camera phone lenses, but still really bad when compared to a DSLR. I was just pointing out that having a ton of megapixels doesn’t mean much when you’re shooting with an inferior lens.

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vanessa p

These are the best phones right now.I hope people can dump static iphones and buy these intelligently designed Windows Phone 8 devices.

Abdullah Zule

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